Desik Rengarajan

Howdy! I am a Machine Learning Research Scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs. I primarily work on AI for Nuclear Fusion and trustworthiness of Large Language Models.

I obtained my PhD in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University, under the joint guidance of Dr. Srinivas Shakkottai and Dr. Dileep Kalathil. During my time there, I was a part of the LENS Lab within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

My research interests include reinforcement learning and game theory. I am particularly interested in areas such as offline reinforcement learning, meta reinforcement learning, multi-armed bandits, contextual bandits, and federated reinforcement learning. 

During my Ph.D., I developed reinforcement learning algorithms with theoretical guarantees that use data and structure to enhance the learning process. This was with a focus on real-world problems, where we often have access to additional information about the problem we are trying to solve. This information can come in the form of demonstration data, such as driving data collected by human drivers in the case of autonomous driving. It can also come in the form of structural information, such as knowing that the current problem is similar to ones seen in the past or having some information about the dynamics of the problem.

In the fall of 2020 I was a research intern in the Real World Reinforcement Learning Group at Microsoft Research, where I was involved in prototyping reinforcement learning algorithms that leverage user feedback to improve the overall slide design retention rate of PowerPoint Designer, a feature in PowerPoint that creates slide designs from user provided content.  

In the summer of 2020 I was a research intern in the End to End Network & Service Automation Group at Nokia Bell Labs, where I worked on developing reinforcement learning algorithms to model a SLA-Feasibility checker used in 5G Network Slicing. 

In 2017, I obtained my Bachelors in Electronics and Communication Engineering from PES Institute of Technology (now PES University), Bangalore where I was advised by Dr. Vamsi Krishna Tumuluru